The Role of Legislation in Shaping Palliative Care in Europe

Palliative care is increasingly recognized as a matter of law rather than charity. This chapter examines the nine European countries which have enacted dedicated palliative care legislation: France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Armenia, Albania, and Austria. It first traces the evolution of the concept of palliative care and its reconceptualization as a human right under international law. It then analyzes how these nine jurisdictions define palliative care in legislation and whether they frame access to it as a right. The laws demonstrate a normative convergence around the principle that palliative care should be universally available and publicly supported. National approaches diverge, however, in how that commitment is realized. Some assert an individual right of access, while others proceed through funding structures and health system integration. Across those jurisdictions which do assert a right, legislatures and constitutional courts have consistently declined to render it judicially enforceable.